Microbial Mats

MMATS passively treats municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater, agricultural wastewater, landfill leachate, acid mine drainage, and rapid biosorption and degradation of organics and inorganic contaminants in wastewater.  Our technology traps greenhouse gases and allows for the rapid bio-conversion of carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and proteins for bio-energy production.

Benefits:

  • Water Quality - Treatment of wastewater to reuse as “Green Water”
  • Bioenergy - Biomass production for “Green Energy”
  • Carbon Credits - Entrapment of greenhouse gases and rapid bio-conversion of carbon dioxide for bioenergy production and oxygen
  • Bioremediation - Passive treatment of municipal and agricultural wastewater, landfill leachate, oil spills, acid mine waste, pink water, militarization/demilitarization wastewater to degrade and remove organic and inorganic contaminants including metals 

The distinguishing feature of constructed Microbial Mats compared with all other engineered green systems using active microorganisms is the integration of photosynthetic bacteria into the microbial consortium, creating a self-sustainable ecosystem with minimal need for supplemental nutrition.

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Applications

The mature microbial mat consortium is a dynamic and highly adaptable microbial community that can be applied in different ways for agriculture, aquaculture, bioremediation of contaminants and energy production. The following lists actual and potential applications:

  • Treatment of municipal and agricultural wastewater
  • As a fish feed for tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus or Tilapia nilotica
  • Aquaculture filter, transforming nitrogenous fish wastes into benign products. The process involves rapid sequestration of ammonia from water.
  • Soil amendments, such as fertilization via nitrogen fixation and plant growth stimulators
  • Sequestration of heavy metals
  • Degradation of recalcitrant toxic organic contaminants
  • Removal of radionuclides from low level radioactive waste
  • Biopolymers production

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